


The Old Mormon Fort

by Rambert



Series: The radicalization of Craig Boone [10]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Almost Kiss, Arguing, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Crying, Cussing, Fear of Death, Followers of the Apocalypse (Fallout), Gangsters, Gritty, Hate Crimes, Headcanon, Holding Hands, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Independent New Vegas (Fallout), Knives, Late at Night, M/M, Medical Trauma, POV First Person, Pain, Post-Apocalypse, Slow Burn, Slurs, Stabbing, Wartime Romance, Weapons, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:36:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28635618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rambert/pseuds/Rambert
Summary: When Casey thinks it's his last night in Freeside, he lets his guard down a little too much and suffers greatly for it. [mind the tags and archive warning!]
Relationships: Craig Boone/Courier (Fallout), Craig Boone/Non-Binary Courier
Series: The radicalization of Craig Boone [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085471
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	The Old Mormon Fort

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't really addressed my logic for this yet but I think the Pip Boy being able to tell the player which life forms are hostile or neutral is too powerful and wouldn't really exist: only the distinction between humans and creatures. That's why Casey says his Pip boy is "pretty much useless here", meaning it would just constantly be showing tons of life forms nearby bc of all the people around.
> 
> Also I think it's lazy writing to have the Fiends/Vipers/Scorpions/Jackals not be approachable in the same way that the Powder Gangers and DLC tribals are, so I decided that the reason nobody likes Fiends is bc they're bigoted assholes and that's my head canon now :P
> 
> that being said PLEASE don't read without reviewing the tags first, I do not want to be responsible for triggering anyone. thank you!

Miraculously, Farris survives the day and wakes up the following morning to the relief and delight of his friends and neighbors. He'll be bedridden for a while and won't be up for any fights, but he's still breathing: around here that's one hell of an accomplishment.

Boone and I have stayed long enough to make sure that the NCR was serious about sending a new envoy to the Kings to discuss peace terms, and that had happened as promised this afternoon-- Dr. Farkas has some _serious_ influence with the Major it appears, and I'm extremely impressed.

Now that things are calming down between both groups for the moment I feel like it's safe enough to depart and go back to Novac, so Boone and I make plans to leave the next day. We're lucky to be able to share a bed here, but I'm _very_ much looking forward to being back in our own room with real walls-- I'm tired of having to whisper to Boone cheeky things I'd love to say at regular volume.

It's been three days at the Mormon Fort and over a week since we left Novac, and I miss the home that Boone and I have been creating together so very much-- and I've told him this at every possible opportunity.

After sharing a simple dinner with the Followers I watch Dr. Farkas and her assistants all start prepping for what will inevitably be another busy night at the Fort treating ill citizens, and I decide I want to be useful for one more night also.

"I'm gonna go sell some of my excess ammo at Mick & Ralph's and hand out the caps from it so people can eat tonight who aren't with the NCR," I say to Boone. "Want to come with me?"

"Sure." He follows me out of the Fort into the sunset. "Is it safe to be out here at night though?"

"No," I say honestly, sighing as I look up at him. "Nowhere in Freeside is really safe, Boone. My Pip Boy's pretty much useless here, it doesn't know which humans are neutral or hostile. That's kinda why I never wanted to come back here. But now that I'm here... I feel like I have to do something, you know?"

"...I know. You always want to do something, Case, it's what makes you such a good person," Boone says with affection, making my face hot.

"C'mon," I mumble, smiling as I take his hand and feeling giddy when he instantly squeezes it.

We go down a few blocks to Mick & Ralph's, where I sell a hundred caps' worth of ammunition that I barely have a need for now that Boone is with me all the time. Then we meander around Freeside and offer caps to anyone looking like they might not have any on them.

Most of them are grateful, and some want to talk my ear off, but a few are pissed at us for disturbing their rare moments of rest; I apologize genuinely and leave caps on the ground nearby anyway.

I don't tell Boone, but I give away far more than the hundred caps. In just over an hour I've parted with about half of what I've just been paid from Ignacio's job. It's not like I intended to do that when I arrived here, but I can't deny my people. Dr. Farkas has her way of doing things and I have mine.

But if Boone notices or objects to what I'm doing he doesn't protest, and as the pinks and purples fade into black night around us he all of a sudden pulls me close, his hand on the small of my back.

"I've never met anyone like you Elliott," he says, so seriously that I laugh.

"That's good, right? I can't quite tell with your tone."

"Then maybe you can tell with this." Boone's voice has dropped so low I nearly shiver from it, and then I _do_ shiver when he takes my hand and brings it to his lips.

He kisses over each one of my knuckles individually, not seeming to care about the little pecking noises floating off into the night, and all of a sudden I cannot breathe.

"Craig," I moan, too shocked to be embarrassed at the way I've just said his name because his lips are setting me on _fire._

"W-we should-- go back and continue this in the tent, maybe--"

"Do we have to?" Boone asks in such a guttural seductive tone that my knees buckle.

As I'm standing there trying to drum up the nerve to ask Boone to kiss me, a peal of high-pitched laughter startles me so badly that I squeak; Boone doesn't let go of me and I'm grateful he didn't break away this time.

"Ew, look at the f*gg*ts," someone hisses from the shadows. "Sucking each other's dicks. You like eating dicks, f*gg*ts?"

More peals of laughter, seeming to echo from all around us, and my blood runs cold as I realize there's more than one.

"Why don't you go suck on each other and leave us alone," I say, trying to sound more mean than afraid.

Unfortunately that only seems to amuse them, and they laugh louder, beginning to crow and make lewd animal-like noises at the top of their lungs.

Boone grips me tighter as three people approach, and I realize they're Fiends-- they're wearing typical wasteland raider armor, using untanned animal hides as cloaks and skulls with extra jaw pieces for helmets. They don't even do it because they think it will protect them, no. They do it to scare the shit out of people. And it works.

"We don't want any trouble," I say, but my voice shakes despite my best effort-- I can't help but notice they're all brandishing dirty machetes that glint dully in the moonlight.

"Aww, the widdle f*g doesn't want any _twubble_ ," the Fiend teases viciously, and I'm sorely regretting leaving ED-E back in Novac.

As it is, this isn't a fair fight, and I turn to my last option-- caps.

"This is all the money I have on me, take it," I say, pulling out the bag from my pack and holding it in front of me. "Just please go away and leave us alone. I don't want trouble with you."

"You're on _our_ turf f*g, and we don't take bribes," one of the Fiends hisses, hocking and spitting at the ground near our feet.

"I was feeding Freesiders!" I say in exasperation, feeling Boone reaching for his knife beside me and getting frantic.

"Look, we're leaving," I add, tugging on Boone's arm with my free hand to try and drag us away.

"No you're not," another Fiend says cruelly, and whistles to their companions.

Then all hell breaks loose as they charge us.

" _Stop_!" I try to scream at first, watching the machetes swinging towards us, but they don't listen-- probably all high out of their gourds on Jet.

We just barely dodge the first volley, and Boone has finally broken apart from me with his knife out.

"Back off!" he yells, ready to strike.

But when the first Fiend launches himself at Boone and gets stabbed in the stomach for it, the other two only crow in amusement even as their companion falls to the ground choking and struggling to breathe. I feel nauseous.

"Look at that quickness! We got ourselves _NCR_ f*gs tonight! Even _better_!"

" _I'm not NCR you homophobes_!" I scream angrily, feeling tears prick my eyes when they laugh more.

"This is why no one likes Fiends! You're j-just a bunch of bigots-- you don't even care that your friend there just got stabbed and will probably bleed out and _die_ tonight! All we want to do is g- _go home_ ," I sob, still walking backwards with my hands raised.

The only weapons I have on me are frag grenades, which are too dangerous to use at such a close range as this. And my carbine is back at the Fort... I've gotten careless again, not expecting combat. Maybe I have gone too soft for Freeside after all.

The two Fiends are still following us with their machetes extended.

"Time to die, f*gg*ts," one hisses, then they both yell and charge at me and Boone again.

Boone instinctively moves in front of me and though he rebuffs one of the Fiends easily, the second one lands a machete blow on his hip-- it had been going for his chest and he hadn't dodged it completely-- and he screams in pain.

" _Craig_!" I screech, terrified.

The Fiend tries to pull their weapon out of Boone's body to prepare for another blow, but it's gone in deep and has struck bone-- the dulled dirty blade is stuck into the side of his pelvic bowl. When the Fiend attempts to pull on it Boone snarls and grabs onto them so they can't move back. Then he stabs the Fiend up into their guts, wrenching the knife with a harsh twist before pulling it out and tossing the gurgling body away.

The last Fiend looks at Boone, panting and standing over their two fallen fellow gangsters with a bloody knife and a machete lodged in his hip and a blazing fury in his eyes, and decides to do the smart thing: run away.

"L-let's get away from these two," I say, as the stabbed Fiends aren't dead yet and are coughing wetly in a way that's quickly making me ill.

I guide Boone by the elbow on his non-injured side and we stagger away; I wince as he yells from the agony of moving.

"Just a little further, you can do it," I whimper, spouting meaningless platitudes to try and drown out the sounds of his suffering.

But barely half a block later Boone sinks like a stone to his knees, groaning in pain.

"Oh my god, Craig, oh my god," I'm babbling, trying not to pass out from hyperventilating in my panic. "Don't move, s-stay here I'm going to go get you help--"

"Don't leave me Elliott," Boone blurts out desperately, already delirious from shock as he drops his knife and grips me with a bloodied hand; my stomach wrenches and I get a wave of dizziness.

"C-Can you walk any further?" I ask, not wanting to hurt him more than he already is.

"Hurts," Boone hisses, and I know it's bad for him to already be so out of it.

"I n-need to go get you help," I say, crying helplessly as I squeeze his hand in both of mine.

I have a couple of Stimpaks in my pack that I was going to offer to hand out to anyone wanting them, but that machete is in him sickeningly deep-- this is beyond what a Stimpak can fix. He needs a real doctor, and fast.

"Help... me up," Boone grunts, and I quickly grab up his knife so he won't lose it.

Then I loop his arm around my shoulders and try to lift him back to his feet. Boone lets out a raw sound that shatters me, but then he's leaning into me heavily on his non-injured side.

"Help me, Elliott," he sighs, sounding so exhausted that I want to weep.

"Okay, o-okay, we can do this Craig, just walk back with me, that's it," I say as I start leading him towards the Old Mormon Fort. "Just a couple blocks that's all, then you can lie down, you're doing great..."

Boone's vocalizing his pain on every step in a way I've _never_ heard him do, and each anguished sound grinds my insides to dust.

This is all _my fault_. If we would have just stayed at the Fort tonight none of this would have happened and we'd be on our way back to Novac in a few hours as planned. Now? Oh god, now I just have to pray Boone won't die from this.

\--

"Well hey kid, I didn't expect to see you back so soon," The King says when I show up bleary-eyed as early as they'll let me in to see him.

"You said yesterday I could ask you a favor since I helped facilitate the situation with the NCR," I say, my voice hoarse from crying. "Well, it seems I already need it."

"Lay it on me," says The King.

"I need enough caps for a surgery by Dr. Usanagi for my friend Boone," I say, trying not to cry just from saying it.

The machete is _still in him._

Dr. Farkas had been afraid to pull it out, saying it might make things worse. Boone was in so much pain upon finally reaching the Fort that they'd had to sedate him. The situation looked bad last night and is looking worse this morning, with Julie warning me in private that if I didn't find some way to get him to the Medical Clinic in the next 24 hours, he'd be at serious risk of sepsis from the contaminated blade.

This is my only shot. If The King says he can't do this I have no idea what I'll do-- I only have a few hundred caps left. I wouldn't even have enough to cover the surgery _with_ what I gave away last night.

"Boone... wasn't that your bodyguard?" The King asks, and I nod.

I feel tears tracking down my face and I impatiently wipe them away, sniffling.

"Yeah, we were out feeding Freesiders last night a-and Fiends attacked us. I know that your caps go to your guys first and that Farris should take priority but... please. I'm begging you to help, he m-might not make it otherwise or might lose his leg."

The King strokes his clean-shaven chin for a moment, thinking.

"Tell you what, I might have a compromise that could help both of us out. You might notice Rexy isn't down here today," he says sadly, and I feel embarrassed that I hadn't actually realized that in my upset.

"He didn't even want to come down the stairs, poor boy," The King sighs.

"He's getting worse, and I don't know what to do. We used to take him to Dr. Henry with the Followers, but he's been gone over a year. If you promise you'll help me with Rex, I'll pay for Boone's surgery."

"Of course I will!" I exclaim, startling the older man. "Oh, thank you King, thank you!"

"Don't thank me, thank Dr. Usanagi-- she'll be the one doing all the work. My boys back in the office will get you your caps. Come back to me before you leave town."

"Yes sir," I say, finally starting to feel like hope is possible again.

\--

I take the caps immediately to Dr. Usanagi at the Medical Clinic, and while counting them to ensure proper payment she has three of her staff depart with a stretcher and push-cart to transport Boone safely.

At least with their exorbitant rates, the New Vegas Medical Clinic can boast that it actually provides top-tier care as well: something that the scammers of the wasteland could never rival.

"He's lucky I don't have any other surgeries already scheduled for today," Dr. Usanagi says to me, and I thank her so profusely that she gets visibly uncomfortable.

"Just-- come back tomorrow morning, I should be finished and have him stable by then."

As hard as it is to not spend all night pacing outside the Medical Clinic, I abide by the doctor's instructions, though I can't even think of trying to sleep. Though I didn't sleep last night either, and I know I'm doing my body no favors by depriving it rest... but I can't sleep when I'm this upset.

I sit by the campfire at the Mormon Fort long after everyone else has retired to their tents, staring into the dying flames.

"Elliott? What are you doing still up?" Julie Farkas comes out of the research bunker, yawning.

"Could ask you the same question Dr. Farkas," I say tiredly. "Just waiting for dawn so I can go check on Boone at the Clinic. How's Farris?"

"Doing better, but still not great," Dr. Farkas sighs. "I do hope your NCR friend was worth the caps. Still don't know how you got the King to give you that much money though for a simple favor."

"About that," I say awkwardly. "I was actually going to ask if you know where Dr. Henry went? Because the King only agreed to pay for Boone's surgery if I take Rex to someone who can help him, so I figure he's the best shot."

"Oh, wow," Dr. Farkas says, laughing into her palm. "You're on quite an errand then, because last I heard he's out west in Jacobstown."

"Jacobstown," I repeat, feeling a jolt of goosebumps all over my body.

Suddenly I hear that nightkin voice in my brain: _Keep my tape, sneaky sneaks. Come see me in Jacobstown sometime._

"I will," I breathe.

"What?" Julie asks, confused.

"I'll do it. I'll take Rex to Jacobstown," I say, sitting back and looking up at the stars.

\--

"Hey, Case..."

Boone gives a small wave while still lying down, and I'm already crying as I rush over to him in the post-op bed at the Clinic and sit on the edge of it.

"Boone," I blurt out, taking his hands immediately when he reaches out for mine-- being careful not to touch where the IV is inserted.

"I'm so sorry," I choke out.

"For what?" Boone croaks, still a bit fuzzy and dehydrated from the anesthesia.

"For taking us outside the Fort, it was reckless and dangerous," I say, my vision blurring with tears to the point where I have to lean back and wipe my face quickly on my sleeve so they won't drip onto him.

"Please don't cry Elliott," Boone murmurs sadly, and I gulp down my tears for his sake.

"S-sorry."

"Hey..." Boone reaches up to cup my cheek with one hand, and I exhale as I let my eyes close and lean into his touch.

"I'm not going anywhere," Boone says, his thumb tracing over my chin, and I let out a small sob.

"What, what is it?" he asks.

"W-well... _I_ have to go somewhere," I say miserably, feeling wretched to see Boone's face twist in disappointment and confusion.

"The o-only way I could afford the surgery here was to promise to take The King's dog all the way to Jacobstown."

Last night I'd attempted to convince myself I was excited about this trip with Rex... but now? Here with Boone? I just want to go _home_ to Novac, and now I'm more upset than ever that I'm not able to.

"Oh," Boone says, looking guilty.

So I do the only thing I can think of in the moment to get him to not feel that way-- I turn my face into his hand and kiss his palm. The same as he did with me what seems like forever ago now, but has really only been a couple of weeks. Boone makes a soft noise in his throat that goes right to my heart.

"We'll get through this," I whisper into Boone's rough fingers that have thankfully been thoroughly washed since I touched them last. "Anything I could do is worth you being all right."

"...When are you leaving then, today?" Boone asks quietly, his hand dropping from his arm being too tired.

"Yes," I say with a sigh, reaching out to gently stroke Boone's hair.

I finally smile a little as I watch his eyes close from the attention and he visibly relaxes under my touch.

"That's a long journey," he murmurs. "And you don't have your Eyebot..."

"I won't be going alone. The Followers are sending two of their guards with me and we're picking up some Westsiders on the way to form a caravan."

I lean down to kiss Boone's forehead, pleased when I hear him sigh from it.

"I promise I'll be careful. More careful than I've ever been, and I expect the same from you," I whisper in his ear. "Because we _will_ be back in a bed together in Novac, Craig Boone, and don't you forget it."

"I won't," is all Boone says-- and it's all he needs to say.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to correct this but I couldn't find anything in the lore that would state Doc Henry from Jacobstown couldn't have been with the Followers at one point and that's why Dr. Farkas knows about him when the player asks? So I just made up that he'd departed about a year ago and that the King was using him for veterinary care previously. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, I might take a short break with this stuff but if you've made it this far, the payoff is COMING believe me.


End file.
